The Sins of the Past, Never Forgotten

A long time ago in a land far far away, there was a small town in a rather large country. This town was a place of neutrality in the War of Salvation that had long plagued the lands. Both sides took refuge in this lustrous city for it was known for its grand inna and festive nights. It was the ideal vacation area for both factions. The town itself was a mix of multiple different species of demons, and because of that both sides were welcomed without prejudice.

The black demons and the red demons had been at war for five years, each vying for their leader to become the next Demon Lord after the last had been slain by the Hero of the gods.

Grenjen Orocho, also known as Vile, led the Red Demon faction while Crayn Kelmoro, known as Eternal for his unique magic and strange birth, led the black faction.

A white demon was a former Demon Lord, but their race had nearly died out, leaving one of the bigger races to fight for the spot.

The ascendance of a red demon to godhood was their claim to the throne, while the black demons had superior magic and Skills that made their faction more fit to rule. They were at a near stalemate because of the red factions' near infinite supply of troops and resources, while the black faction had more strength by way of smaller numbers.

Both sides thought they would have an easy victory and yet five years had passed and neither side was close to obtaining victory.

Then Eternal looked for new troops in the neural city, demons that could have the power he was looking for—a power to turn the tides of war.

After searching for some time, he came across a young red-skinned demon who worked as a busboy at one of the famous inns. His body was rather lacking in strength, but the look in his eye made Eternal interested and so he followed the boy in secret one night, straying away from his own guards and throwing caution to the wind.

He saw the poor boy approached by a red demon and a black one, each flexing their magic prowess with multiple elements in each hand. They demanded money, but the young boy refused to give anything, not even his time.

When he tried to walk past them, one of them grabbed his long tail and hoisted him up in the air. Eternal was sure it was the end for the boy and refused to step in. That all changed when the boy made contact with the black demon.

Almost instantly the man fell to the ground, body intact, but lifeless; he had been killed instantly. He was a dried husk.

The black demon freaked out and tried to slay the boy, but was met with the exact same fate: after he was touched, he collapsed on the floor, lifeless. It was as if he made their souls leave their bodies, but surely not a power actually existed.

Eternal had to know more and so he followed the boy to his home in the slums, ready to make his case.

He approached the broken-down home and waited for someone to answer. Unsurprisingly, it was not the kid, but his mother who nearly fainted from the sight of the Demon Lord candidate.

“What brings you to this lowly district, my Lord? Surely someone of your stature belongs in the most lavish parts of our city. If you want to I can—”

“There is no need. I have come to speak with your son as well as yourself. I have a proposition that might help you…,” he gestured at the rundown shack, “with your circumstances.”

The slender and frightened red demon woman brought her son out and participated in the conversation.

Eternal wanted to draft her son into his army for a special role and would be willing to take the rest of his family back to the capital where they would be able to live without poverty.

His mother was unsure how to take this, glancing back and forth between her son and Eternal, not able to come to a conclusion that would meet either party's needs.

The boy decided to bring the conversation to an end by agreeing to join Eternal as long as his mother and younger brother were taken care of.

“You have my word,” Eternal said with a smile. "Demons never go back on a promise."

Time went by and the war got worse. Both sides were being massacred by the hundreds, but something would happen soon to change the tide of the war.

A boy with armor way too big for his small body was dropped into the battlefield, only to be thrown by larger demons of the black race at his own kind. The moment he collided with his own kin, they would die nearly instantly. This new weapon was a gamble, but with powerful mages to protect his body and strong soldiers to hurl him into battle, the boy with his magic that was thought to have been long forgotten—massacred thousands.

The boy never batted an eye nor mulled over the evil deeds he committed. He was at peace.

Once a week as well as whenever a victory was celebrated, he was able to visit his mom and his brother who once again had the light of life in their eyes.

To his brother—he was his hero, to his mom—he was someone she prayed to the gods to protect, and to the next Demon Lord—he was a tool to be used.

The boy, who was now a young man, didn’t care as long as his family was happy. His power to steal all the mana from the body of anyone he touched was enough to turn the tide of the war. [[Mana Drain]] was a near-unbeatable Skill.

To a demon, who had vast amounts of magic at birth, no matter the type, they could not live without it. By expelling the magic—more specifically, the mana from their bodies—he depleted a part of them that was vital to their life force and without it, they perished.

Many years went by and at last, the black faction had claimed victory. It was not clean and a large amount of lives were lost on each side, but that didn’t matter. For the first time in eons, a black demon had become the Demon Lord...and it was all thanks to one boy—the catalyst of their victory.

Eternal was grateful to the boy and gave him the role of Holy Executioner. Someone who killed the enemies of the people and the gods.

Throughout the boy’s (who was now near adulthood) life, he looked up to a goddess that no other demons looked to. That was because his father was a human and had committed the taboo of breeding with another race.

For the longest time, his father taught him about the gods that no other demon looked to. They were not demons nor did they reside in dark heaven. They were the ones that the humans looked up to. They gave humans like him purpose, and hope.

The goddess that his father and his mother worshipped, who met their father at a shrine in the Beast-kin warped lands, was the goddess Lumina.

She was a herald of light, hope, and prosperity and she gave their whole family something to latch on to in a world of war and strife.

They prayed to her every day and every night left an offering at their homemade shrine. It was a good life and one none of them ever wanted to leave.

Around the time of the red versus black faction face-off, his father was told to pull out of the demon country and return to Floranda, the human realm. He was originally a man tasked with spying on the demons but left that life behind to raise a family.

Their father promised to return when it was safe and gave goodbye to the family while sneaking out of the city.

Forty years had gone by and he had not returned.

Still...the boy and his family thought about him each and every day, praying for his safety and discussing what he could have been doing.

It was also what he thought about when he extinguished the life of a heretic or someone who still opposed the black faction.

Ten years of his Holy Executioner went by before he learned the sad truth. One day he was dropping off a corpse in the Tomb of Heretics when he ran into one of the elder generals from the bloody war.

He noticed the triangle-shaped necklace that hung on the young man's shirt and opened his mouth. ”You know...that talisman reminds me of something that happened long ago. You see...there was a vile human, lurking near the border of our great country, trying to escape for an unknown reason. My patrol and I would be fools to let this go unpunished and apprehend the slippery fiend and put him to death. He had that same talisman or something of the sort when we buried him in the Tomb of Heretics. I haven't thought about that in years...ha-ha.”

The general patted the young man on the back, thanked him for the laugh, and departed.

The young man said nothing, only staring at the ground as tears dripped from his eyes. He had to tell his mother and brother of the fate their father met, but first, he had to talk to the reigning Demon Lord.

“You told me that there had been no human sightings in this land for over a hundred years! What is the meaning of this, Eternal?!”

The young man with short black hair and shining yellow eyes glared at his benefactor with malice and hatred. He wanted an answer.

“Ah, so it is true… I see..,” the Lord of Calamity pouted while looking mildly amused. “Well, then punishments must be in order.”

The young man’s eyes went wide, unable to look his benefactor in the eyes. “What do you mean ‘punishments’? I have done nothing but swear loyalty to you for nearly half a century.”

“—”

“Answer me, Eternal!”

He sunk back into his throne and gave a look to the guards who stood at each side of his throne. “Leave us.”

The guards nodded solemnly and left the large room, leaving only a young man and the ruler of his country.

“That human that was killed by one of my generals was your father, was he not? I knew you weren't a pureblooded red, but the fact that you were half-human explains the secret of your power.”

The young man slammed his foot on the ground, trying to reel in his emotions. “Secret?”

“Yes, 'secret',” he yawned. “You see, the magic of the ancient world is said to have been lost, but that is not the case. The humans who acquired the magic were able to pass it on in their genes, trickling down until it reached their descendants. Being half-human explains why a demon would even be able to use an ancient magic Skill like [[Mana Drain]]. That makes you, one of a kind. A demon who can use the lost magic because his mother defied the taboo and bred with a non-demon.”

“…”

The young man was silent.

Eternal continued. “You see, I wondered for the longest time about that talisman. For I have not once in my long life ever seen a dark god that had a talisman in that shape. Then when I inspected the corpse of that human many years later…,” he pulled the same looking talisman from his waist and held it up. “...I discovered that not only were you a mixed breed, but you worshipped one of the evil gods; the same damn ones that those disgusting humans and demi-humans worship!”

The young man trembled at his words, his eyes darting around the room to keep his focus on anything that was not the Demon Lord. Still, he could not say a word.

“Now back to what I said about punishments. For the crime of breaking the taboo and worshipping a goddess from another species, Lenalla Grimjar and Antol Grimjar will be executed!”

His voice boomed throughout the room, filling every crevice, nook, and cranny with his bellowing words. There was nothing the young man could do to escape now. His fate had been sealed.

The one to commit the execution of his two remaining family members was none other than the Holy Executioner, Asteron Grimjar.

“Y-you c-can’t...urg, I...I won’t kill them. They are my everything.”

Asteron clenched his jaw and brought up his fists at the Demon Lord, eying him with pure hatred.

The Demon Lord only looked down at him with pity, as if he was gazing at a lost child in the rain. “You will, for if you don’t: they will die by the cruelest of torture. Use your gift and make their death swift and painless. If you don’t, they won’t be the only ones to perish.”

He was a tool, one that the Demon Lord had used for many many years. Not his usefulness had been used up. He only kept him around out of duty and promise, but now he had a reason to get rid of him or realign him to his own values.

Asteron was between a rock and a hard place. Of course, he chose the lesser of two evils.

His mother and brother were brought before him, tears in both of their eyes. He was forbidden to tell them the fate of their father, but they saw from the look in his eyes that he was in deep deep pain.

His brother was a father of his own family now but was thankful that it was only him that had to suffer. His mother was still quite young for a demon, but she knew long ago that her lover was no longer of this world and this was her chance to join him.

Each of them was only able to say a single word before they departed and that single word tore Asteron’s heart and soul to shreds. His mother spoke first, then followed by his brother.

“...Love.”

“...You.”

With tears in his eyes and a broken mind and body, Asteron took the life of the two most important people in his world.

As their very lives disappeared, Asteron crumpled to his knees, looking at nothing in particular, his whole mind in a daze.

“...om….An...tol…”

The Demon Lord eyed him with contempt and a wicked grin. “Take them to the Tomb of Heretics.”

After he gave them a proper burial he cried for a long time. Cried for his father, cried for his mother and brother, and cried for the unfairness and prejudice in the country that his life revolved around.

If only there was a country where all were accepted. If only the gods would help us…

He held his talisman one more time and prayed to the goddess that his family adored. With a soft whisper he spoke his wish: “Please let me save my family... Please let me save the people I slayed.”

For once his prayer was answered...in a way.

He screamed his pain as the skin that covered up his arms burned away as if they were dipped in acid until only his bones remained. The pain was unbearable, but the feeling of loss was even worse. A new magic Skill appeared in his mind, one he had never seen before in his life.

“[[Unholy...Revival]]?”

He was bewildered by the new words that had appeared in his mind, it was nearly enough for him to forget the pain.

This new power granted his wish, somewhat. With it, he was able to return to life every single person buried within the Tomb of Heretics.

“What is...this?”

An army of nearly a thousand undead corpses appeared before him. The now-reformed faces of the people he had killed eyed with no malice whatsoever. He spotted his family as well, both his freshly killed mom and brother were there, but he also spotted his father, far in the back of the horde.

Not everyone in the tomb had been unleashed, but it seemed as if every person that Asteron had ever killed and buried had risen from the great beyond.

Each of them spoke to him in a language he could somehow understand. Some yelled at him, some seemed to smile, while others were indifferent to what he did to them.

A cacophony of voices filled his ears at once, driving him to near madness with the sheer amount of pain.

Grief-stricken and very much ticked off, he led his horde deep into the castle, allowing them to feast on flesh. It wasn't long before the entire castle was in panic, but Asteron had already reached the Demon Lord’s dwelling.

He was prepared to lose his life in revenge. He didn’t want to live with these pale facsimiles of the people he fought and loved. He wanted to make the man who caused him this suffering pay….but Eternal had other plans.

He scooped up Asteron and half of his undead horde with his [[Dimensional Rift]] Skill. It was magic that Asteron had seen many times in the war. It would teleport anything inside it to a different dimension or anywhere in the world.

He and his horde ended up in the Shamak Desert, away from civilization of any kind.

It took him years to gather the pieces he needed to construct a functional town. He wanted to make it different; make it a place where people could live without prejudice and away from the gods that caused so much tragedy and pain.

He used his corpses to erect a special barrier that only allowed those on the inside to see what was going on.

Asteron despised Lumina for giving him the power that just fell short of giving his family and the people he killed a happy end. He hated Eternal and the dark gods he worshipped for making his family suffer because they believed in something different. But most importantly, he hated himself for never once thinking about the crimes he committed and blindly trusting the gods and Eternal. It was a mistake he would never make again.

And so he focused on the people that had been half-saved. While most of their personalities were gone, their core values stayed intact. Workers and soldiers went to work and fought in the places he created. Magicians taught magic to the younger people of the demon race who had forgotten the magic they learned after they were killed for committing petty crimes.

The healing priests usually didn’t have anything to do, but he found a way to keep them and everyone else busy in his land of paradise. Even his family, who awaited him at home and communicated with love and compassion to each other. It was something that they would never forget, but it still felt fake to Asteron.

He talked with his whole town on the daily and sent scouts to patrol around to make sure no humans, demons, beast-kin, or even gods would enter his place.

Asteron’s city wasn't a complete success. Sure, there was no prejudice for who worshipped whom or what skin color was what color, but these people were trapped in their ways of old. Ways they could never change as walking corpses that retained the majority of their demon looks.

For him it was suffering, but a way to atone for his sins to run this town. To the corpses it was a place where they could continue and pursue the dreams they once had, even if they would never reach them.

It was a paradise—a paradise of the dead.